Chapter 571: The Irritability of the Former High Priest!

Chapter 571: The Irascibility of a Former High Priest!

Outside the doors of Number 13 Mink Street, Rasma, who had originally stood with his back to his home, slowly turned around.

His left eye was a dark, hollow socket;

for this very eye was currently "hanging" high up in the heavens.

His right eye, though perfectly intact, was filled with a dense, surging mixture of astonishment and fury.

Rasma waved his hands wildly, roaring in a voice that was stifled almost to the absolute limit:

"You actually did all this for a cat?"

Rasma was angry, deeply and thoroughly enraged; if he could, he truly wished he could shatter this entire street with a single punch!

Over the past six months or more, he had remained here for two specific reasons: first, to follow the traces left behind by Diss in an attempt to condense his own fragment of a godhead;

second, to help the Church keep watch over this terrifying threat, one that could bring a violent upheaval to the Temple at any moment.

The moment Diss had stirred just now, Rasma had rushed over immediately, terrified that some catastrophic event had occurred, even guessing that perhaps something untoward had befallen Diss’s grandson—only to discover that it was all for a cat!

At this moment, he truly felt an intense urge to burst into the house, haul that fellow out of bed, grip him by the shoulders to shake him violently, and demand at the top of his lungs:

Don't you think you've gone far too lines over the line with this!!!

Yet, the most infuriating and helpless thing about the man lying inside this house was that he never gave you the slightest opportunity for such a discussion.

When they had first met in their youth, he had already displayed this exact temperament; whatever came out of his mouth was precisely what he was going to do.

He rarely looked up at the starry sky to speak of ideals, because the ideals that ordinary people found hopelessly out of reach were, to him, as simple as reaching up to pluck an apple from a tree.

Not only was the plucking effortless, but he could also take a bite and tell you with absolute certainty whether it was sweet or sour.

Even during that grand pursuit more than six months ago, which had mobilized three Temple Elders and an elite force from various departments within the Church, he had offered no discussion; instead, he had quite cleanly detonated a fragment of a godhead to strike the Temple of Order;

and then told the Temple Elders present on the scene:

I still have two more here, so do as you see fit.

With such a person, there was no way to reason, because he gave you absolutely no chance to reason in the first place!

You could choose not to act according to his will, but you would simultaneously have to bear the consequences.

"Diss, do you think I'm afraid of you just because of this!"

"Do you think that with a flick of your finger, I will go and save a cat for you?"

"What do you take me, Rasma, for? What do you take me, Rasma, for!"

"Do you think I am still the same person I was before? Do you think I am still the same person from before you fell into your slumber? Do you think I have gained absolutely nothing after being a priest on this street for so long?"

"No, you are wrong. My gains have been immense. I feel that I have already found my rhythm; I have gradually mastered it. I do not even need to rush to try, because I know that if I just spend a little more time, I can do exactly what you did back then—raise my hand, and condense the godhead fragment!"

"I will catch up to you, and soon. Therefore, I will not allow you to treat me with such an attitude ever again, Diss!"

After Rasma finished saying all this, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled it,

saying:

"Let this be the last time."

...

Lady Oggie came to a halt. When she stopped, Karen, who had been carried along in flight by her this whole time, finally sensed the warmth that this world could grant him.

He even mobilized the fire-element power of Ancestor Alan to begin roasting himself; of course, after his total alignment with Order, using these powers would not arouse any suspicion.

Oggie warned him, "Baking yourself with fire in such a hurry, I'm afraid your body might snap."

"Thank you for the warning, my lady, but I can endure it."

"Can you really endure it?"

"I can."

"Then you ought to have the strength right now to tell me what that is."

Lady Oggie extended her hand, pointing toward the colossal eye that had appeared on the canopy of the sky ahead. Even though it was still a great distance away, its mere presence had already brought a tremendous sense of oppression to this Frost Giant Dragon.

Karen deliberately answered in an ambiguous manner, "That is the Eye of Order."

"Am I blind? Can I not see that it is the Eye of Order? What I want is for you to tell me whose Eye of Order that is."

"Why do you think I would know, my lady?"

"Then why did you tell me to slow down just now?" Lady Oggie poked her own forehead with a finger. "Most of the time, my foolishness is just to save the few wits I have left for the critical moments."

"My lady..."

"Therefore, I am certain you know exactly whose Eye of Order this is. Now, please tell me, for the sake of my helping you chase your family's missing cat for so long!"

"What you were chasing was an assassin, an assassin who came to assassinate the family of our Church's bishop."

Oggie licked her lips, raised her head slightly, and flicked her eyebrows at Karen:

"Do you know who you are speaking to? Do you know why the Whipper-in placed a seal inside my body to forbid me from revealing my true form at will? Do you know why my supervision is so strict?

Do you think I look very beautiful and sexy like this?"

"Yes."

"Exactly, you have good taste!

Purely from the perspective of human mating, my figure is the most suitable, and the most capable of inciting the impulses of human males of the same stage, because they know I can breed strong babies for them. This is the most primal instinctive choice of life."

"You are entirely correct."

"No, we've gone off-topic. Answer me quickly, or else I will eat you!"

Lady Oggie reached out and gripped Karen by the throat, lifting him into the air.

In the space of consciousness, Karen had faced many existences with powerful souls, but facing one with his physical body was a first.

After all, before Rerilsa awakened in the world behind the door, he had already escaped.

And right now, what he was facing was a genuine dragon, even if she currently looked "like" a human.

When a dragon got close to you and its hand had already touched your body, it usually meant you had already lost. If there were enough distance, Karen felt he might still have a chance to maneuver a few times.

"My lady, you had better calm down."

"My curiosity is very heavy. If you don't tell me, then I'll eat you, and when I report back, I'll just say you were killed by the assassin during the pursuit. Hehehe, don't you think I'm very clever?"

"The assassin came to my house originally intending to kill me. You would be doing the assassin's work for him."

"Huh, that's true."

Lady Oggie actually released her grip, and Karen regained his freedom, quietly moving a small distance away.

"I really can't use death to threaten you, but then I don't want to beg you either. This is so frustrating and agonizing."

"My lady..." Karen said while rubbing his own neck with his hand, "when you saw that Eye of Order, that eye surely saw you as well. Therefore, if he wanted you to know his identity, he would have told you."

The Inmales family was now one of the highest taboos of the Church of Order; including Rasma who remained on Mink Street, they were all "secrets." It was not appropriate for Karen to speak of it unless Rasma himself was willing.

"You really just spoke a piece of very reasonable nonsense, but I still want to know. Perhaps I can break a rule; anyway, the Whipper-in won't know that I was the one who killed you. As for what impact it will have on the Church's side, it seems I don't really care much either.

I even feel that the more chaotic the Church of Order becomes, the more opportunities I will have to come out for some fresh air."

"How dare you!"

A voice rang out directly above Lady Augie's head.

Augie looked up, only to be greeted by the sole of a shoe.

"Bang!"

She was kicked straight into the valley below, hurtling down like a falling star until her body embedded itself deep into the mountainside.

One had to remember she was a dragon, and Cullen truly had not expected someone to send a dragon flying with such crude, brute force.

"Whew... truly unimaginable."

"What is unimaginable?"

A dark silhouette drifted down, slowly coming level with Cullen. Though his form and voice were shrouded, Cullen could still tell who he was—after all, in this region, who else but Lord Lasma could achieve such a feat?

"She is a dragon."

"I know. She started following Vorden a very long time ago." Lasma turned his head slightly. "Have you never seen your grandfather fight?"

"I have... but not exactly."

"Oh, so your grandfather was more elegant when he fought, is that it? He could casually toss out forbidden curses, which most people spend their entire lives striving for without ever casting once, as if they were simple cleansing spells;

and then he would cough a few times, just to indicate that casting forbidden curses still carried a burden and a price."

"But I feel that you possess more texture, sir."

"Texture?" Lasma paused for a moment. "Then let me ask you, between the way I fight and the way your grandfather fights, which one do you prefer?"

"I believe my grandfather cannot compare to you."

"How dare you lie to me."

Cullen smiled and remained silent.

After a period of silence and a dreadfully oppressive atmosphere:

"Hahaha."

Lasma laughed.

He wanted to hold it in, but he simply could not.

If Mason saying tonight that he found a sense of familiarity in him like his own father was a subtle point of pride for Lasma, then Cullen’s straightforward, utterly shameless flattery... had truly struck his heart's core.

He knew it was a lie, but he was happy nonetheless.

Because others could never comprehend just how miserably his own brilliance had been suppressed by that fellow during the young years when he should have been at his most high-spirited.

Just like the moonlit sky above them now, people would always instinctively look at the moon first, counting a few stars only in passing, and even the most brilliant star was merely a foil to the moon.

Those who knew both Lasma and Dis were few to begin with, so even if it was a false compliment, it was the first time Lasma had ever heard such words.

"Why are you not anxiously telling me that there is still a very urgent matter ahead to handle?"

Cullen replied, "I believe that since my grandfather possesses clones, you must surely have them as well."

The moment Lasma appeared before him, Cullen knew very well that Puer was out of danger. With such a massive eye hanging in the sky, it was impossible for Lasma to miss Puer.

Even if he missed it, Dis would have noticed.

Grandfather was asleep, but his gaze had always been guarding the family, and now, he could be considered to have returned home, and this place was also Puer's home.

Although Puer and Dis had not been as close as he and his grandfather were—in Puer’s own words, Dis had never needed its guidance from childhood to adulthood, and before Puer could even react and lament: Ah, my little Dis, you have grown up.

Dis’s heights had already surpassed Puer’s own former peak.

However, it was undeniable that in Dis’s heart, across the series of memories from his childhood to adulthood, then to marriage, to raising children, and finally to raising a grandson, the silhouette of a black cat would always be present.

Though its surname was Allen, Puer’s spoken habits had long become: Our Inmerice family.

Dis had once warned the Church of Order that if his family ever suffered an assault from the Church's forces, the Temple of Order would welcome two roars of thunder.

The family here did not just refer to Cullen alone.

"You kid, I remember when I first saw you, there was still confusion in your eyes. Now, you are truly much more mature and restrained;

as expected of his grandson. When you left Rylan, you hadn't even been cleansed and weren't even a servant of God, yet now you are already..."

As Lasma spoke to this point, the space beside him distorted, and Lady Augie’s figure materialized, driving a fist straight toward Lasma’s head.

"Smack!"

Lady Augie’s sneak attack was steadily blocked by Lasma raising his hand to the side of his own face, done so easily it looked as if Lady Augie were deliberately cooperating in an exhibition match.

"Who on earth are you? I must know your identity!" Lady Augie shouted.

"You do not need to know who I am, nor are you qualified to know."

With that, Lasma shifted his stance, his left hand grabbing Lady Augie’s wrist to yank her in front of him. Lady Augie, whose physical strength was terrifying, seemed to turn into a frail woman in Lasma’s grasp; as she was pulled over, Lasma raised his foot and planted a kick squarely into her stomach.

"Bang!"

Lady Augie once again turned into a falling star, plunging downward.

"Fighting dragons is actually quite simple. Despite how terrifying her physical conditioning is after turning human, she is not accustomed to the distribution of her own strength in a human state. Find the joint nodes, and you can easily crush her with strength far weaker than hers."

Lasma spoke as if delivering a live tutorial, offering a bit of a return gesture for Cullen’s previous bouts of flattery.

Cullen quickly said, "So that is how it is. My grandfather never taught me these things."

"Heh..." Lord Lasma was forcing back a laugh again.

Perhaps this was the first time in his life he felt a child who loved to tell lies could actually be this endearing.

Yet only Cullen knew that this kind of teaching from Lasma was utterly useless. When your strength level exceeded Augie's, you could naturally use the least amount of force to crush her, but when your strength level was far below Augie's, Augie could absolutely use absolute power to crush you and teach you a lesson in humility.

"What is the matter with that fellow from the God of Fallen Cult?"

Lasma had clearly already received the message transmitted by his clone on the other side.

"He is an assassin who nearly slaughtered the entire family of the regional chief bishop in York City tonight."

"Oh, so it was to frame the God of the Desert..."

At that moment, the space behind Lasma distorted once more, and Lady Augie’s silhouette reappeared. Facing Lasma’s back, she opened her mouth directly, terrifying lava brewing within her maw, on the verge of erupting.

"Snap!"

Lasma snapped his fingers, and Lady Augie behind him instantly froze in place, her posture locked; even the scorching lava in her mouth could not be spat out, remaining pooled inside her oral cavity.

Lasma turned around, his left palm lightly lifting Augie’s jaw to force her mouth shut.

"Mmph... mmph..."

In an instant, thick black smoke billowed from Lady Augie’s nostrils and ears, like a coal-fed locomotive sounding its whistle.

Lasma’s right hand had originally been clenched into a fist, but just as it was about to strike Augie’s head, he paused, ultimately loosening his fist to press his ring finger and thumb together, flicking them against Augie’s forehead.

"Thwack!"

A very clear, crisp sound echoed, but to Augie, it felt as though someone had swung hundreds of fists at her head simultaneously, not only sending her flying but also smashing her consciousness into a daze.

There was one change this time, however: the vertical plunge had turned into a parabolic arc.

Having flicked a dragon away, Lasma lowered his head, blew a breath onto his fingers, and then shook his wrist.

"Quite interesting. So that fellow deliberately fled this way, using a teleportation array as a stepping stone?"

"Yes, you are entirely correct. I imagine he believed this area to be a vacuum within our church's sphere of influence."

"A vacuum?" Rasma let out a short laugh. "Then next time I should erect a few stone tablets along the perimeter of this region, engraving the words 'Forbidden Zone' upon them, to spare future moths from blundering in so inexplicably."

"Surely there is no need for such exaggeration..."

"Exaggeration?" Rasma's countenance shifted instantly as he scoffed. "Humph. If it were you who had been captured instead of that cat, think about what would be happening right now."

Karen sensed the shift in Rasma's mood—a somewhat abrupt transition that usually served as a prelude.

"How about this: since your grandfather is still asleep and unable to wake, I, as his contemporary—which makes me your elder—must shoulder a bit of responsibility on his behalf. At the very least, I ought to discipline and train you. This is for your own good; surely you understand?"

"My Lord, I believe resolving the matter here as swiftly as possible remains of the utmost importance."

"During training, even if a few bumps and bruises occur, even if you sustain minor injuries, as long as it isn't life-threatening, it is all well worthwhile, is it not?"

"My Lord, I do not believe now is the time to gather experience and learn from you. The higher-ups of the church have already been shaken by this assassination attempt. We ought to..."

"You agree, then. After all, suffering a little loss and enduring a few injuries in exchange for a substantial elevation in consciousness and progress—what a profitable bargain that is, wouldn't you say?"

Karen fell silent, for he had realized two things;

The first was that Rasma intended to teach him a lesson.

The second was that the man was not actually asking him, but rather seeking the counsel of Dis.

Gently stroking a ring upon his finger, Rasma smiled. "This dragon is unsuited to act as a sparring partner. That assassin has already been wounded by me; go and deal with him. I shall guide your strikes."

"Thank you, My Lord, for granting me this rare opportunity. I will certainly contemplate and learn with all my heart."

"Mm, very good. It seems you have readily accepted. Listen to that—he accepted!"

The latter half of the sentence was shouted with great volume, as though he feared the old man lying on the bed might fail to hear it clearly, thereby causing unnecessary misunderstanding.

To put it plainly, it was true that Rasma wished to teach something, but it was equally true that he intended to use this pretext to leave the man's grandson bruised and swollen, or perhaps severely injured.

Lacking the audacity to touch the old one, he could only seek a sense of balance upon the young one; otherwise, heaven knew if being sent to rescue a cat this time meant he would be sent to rescue a dog the next!

Karen spoke with profound respect:

"Please set your mind at ease, My Lord. Once I return this time, I will certainly pass on everything you teach me to Bic."

"Bic? You know Bic?"

"Oh? It appears you were not yet aware. Bic is currently my subordinate, my capable assistant. He always tells me that he has an exceptionally brilliant teacher whom he will revere for a lifetime.

The promotion and guidance you bestow upon me today, I swear, shall be returned to Bic twofold."

Rasma fell silent.

He was utterly furious!

Yet Karen took the initiative to urge him forward: "My Lord, may we begin now?"

"Wait a moment longer. I shall inflict a few more severe wounds upon him first."